SOCHI, Russia — As Team Canada’s decision-makers began turning their attention to replacing Steven Stamkos on Thursday, the last thing on their minds was actually trying to replace Stamkos. At least in a literal sense.
The internal conversation focused entirely on determining exactly what kind of ripple effect his absence would have on the 25-man Olympic roster and the detailed gameplan that has already been mapped out for it. That was the only way Steve Yzerman, Mike Babcock and Co. felt they could best identify who the replacement should be.
As a result, we shouldn’t look at their impending decision as any sort of referendum on whether Martin St. Louis, James Neal or Claude Giroux is the best remaining Canadian forward who shoots right-handed. Heck, it’s not even necessarily going to be a reflection of who Yzerman feels is most likely to score the goals that Stamkos would have been counted on to score here.
The conversation involves many more layers than that.
One important element involves what happens to the top power play unit, where Stamkos would almost certainly have been given a role. There’s every chance he would have been the right-winger alongside Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz at even strength, too. Another player (or players) will now be elevated to those positions, vacating other carved out spots and leaving gaps in their wake.
So while Canada is replacing one injured player, the management and coaching staffs are looking at it as a chance to reorder the entire chessboard. Or at least reimagine it. And that is why a long list of potential fill-ins found themselves back in consideration when Stamkos was officially ruled out on Wednesday night.
“The whole long list is alive,” Ralph Krueger, a consultant to Babcock’s coaching staff, said Thursday at Bolshoy Ice Dome. “We spoke about this scenario. I think you need to see all the players again and there’s no batting order here. It’s really remixing the team and the lineup and then looking at the best possible player for that spot. There’s no bad player left on the long list and there’s no bad player on the team.
“They’re all excellent players — it’s just which strengths do we feel that we need the most.”
As natural fits at right wing, St. Louis, Giroux and Neal are viewed as the most likely potential replacements but the number of quality players goes much deeper than that. Hockey Canada wouldn’t rule out bringing a centre or left-winger — or even another defencemen for that matter — so a case could easily be built for Eric Staal or Joe Thornton. And what about the likes of Andrew Ladd or Tyler Seguin, who have barely even been mentioned in speculation?
Hockey Canada has set a Saturday deadline to announce the choice, according to vice-president of men’s national teams Brad Pascall, and there is paperwork that needs to be filed to the International Olympic Committee before the decision can be announced publicly. However, the organization is sensitive to the fact the player needs to be told as soon as possible since he’ll be expected to jump on a charter plane to Russia on Sunday afternoon.
Pascall is the only member of the management team already in Sochi and was involved in discussions with Yzerman and the other assistants — Ken Holland, Doug Armstrong, Peter Chiarelli and Kevin Lowe — through the night Wednesday. He refused to specify how many players were being considered.
“From the day we named our team we told everybody, ‘Hey you’re still in consideration of the long list of players,”‘ said Pascall. “So whether they believed that they’re still in consideration or not, it’s more real now.
“I think there’s probably a number of players out there thinking they might get that call.”
Stamkos has scored more goals than any other NHL player over the last four seasons and would have been the purest shooter on Team Canada. His knack for the net is not something you can really find elsewhere, although Neal (101) and St. Louis (98) both have fairly high goal totals dating back to 2010-11.
The coaching staff has already invested a tremendous amount of time in debating potential line combinations and they’ve arrived at the conclusion that it is best to spread the offence around.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a top line in this group,” said Krueger. “When you look at this lineup, we’re expecting to create offence on all four lines. It wasn’t about concentration of power. We want to play a real high-paced game — we’ve been speaking about that a lot. We want to be really strong right through every game we play from beginning to end and I think that you need all four lines clicking.
“It’s not a scenario of a NHL team where you have one, two, three, four — I don’t think you’re going to have that feeling here at all.”
With or without Stamkos, Canada will be the favourite in the eyes of many at this event. And just like during the original selection process, there’s a feeling that Yzerman can’t really go wrong with choosing the replacement. However, the executive director is nothing if not thorough and that’s why the discussion will go deep before a decision is rendered.
“I don’t feel we’re lacking anything on this team, I think we’ve got it all,” said Krueger. “It’s just up to us coaches now to put the puzzle together in the right way. I think if you could feel it, it’s more like you’re putting an automobile together and maybe you feel you need a little better engine or you need some better tires or whatever. What is the part that makes that line or that group the best?
“That’s what we’re looking at today.”